


I'll Admit I Miss My Crew

by thealpacalypse



Category: Lovely Little Losers
Genre: Asexual Ursula, F/F, Friendship, M/M, Pining, Romance, bisexual Hero Duke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-15 01:46:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4588335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thealpacalypse/pseuds/thealpacalypse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Balthazar gets very lonely in the flat sometimes and misses his friends in Auckland. But luckily he has Hero, who is really fun to talk to on the phone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Admit I Miss My Crew

**Author's Note:**

> My only excuse for this is that I need more Hero and Balth friendship fluff. A lot more. So much more.
> 
> No beta for this, sorry; any mistakes in here are therefore my own.
> 
> The title of this fic is from the lyrics of "Running Mad" by Balthazar (or rather by Reuben Hudson).

Balthazar has never been a fan of phone calls, but Hero is literally one of the two people in the whole world who he doesn’t mind talking to on the phone. So when his phone rings with that happy little ukulele duet he recorded with Hero, he picks up the phone smiling.

 

“My Hero,” he chuckles, “please tell me you called to save me from my boredom?”

 

Hero hums amusedly. “Hello Balthazar! Yes, definitely that, and I also need some advice. But first things first – how are you and why are you so bored on a beautiful Sunday evening?”

 

The first question makes Balthazar grimace – he can never really answer how he feels these days. So instead he just replies: “Dunno. Ben is skyping with Bea I guess, Freds is busy with stuff and Peter is… out, I think. Haven’t seen him all weekend.”

 

He doesn’t even try to make that part about Peter sound casual like he usually would – this is Hero he’s talking to, any energy put into pretending anything would be wasted on her.

 

Hero sighs sympathetically. “Oh Balthazar, I’m so sorry for you that this is all so weird and complicated. I still don’t get how that could happen.”

 

Quietly Balthazar admits: “Yeah, me neither.” But he refuses to be a sad sack when talking to Hero, so in a more cheerful tone he adds: “So, what about you? Any news? How are things in Auckland?”

 

There’s a pause at the other end of the line, as if Hero considers if she wants to let him change the topic just like that, but then she replies: “Pretty much everything is the same around here. You know, school is busy, I’m still working on stuff for my etsy store, Meg and I made chocolate cake yesterday and it turned out really good!”

 

“I bet,” Balthazar laughs, “I wish I could taste it.” It’s not supposed to sound sad, it’s not supposed to be a hidden ‘ _I’d rather bake cake with you and Meg than be here’_ , but even Balthazar can’t pretend he didn’t hear the sadness in his voice.

 

“Balthazar…” Hero replies softly, “Is it really that bad?”

 

Balthazar doesn’t know how to reply to that. “I just miss you. You, and Ursula, and Tony,” he finally sighs. He doesn’t want to complain too much, overall his situation isn’t too bad. University is cool mostly, and he lives with his friends here, and Freddie is pretty awesome as well, and he has found some new friends here who are also pretty great, so he shouldn’t make it sound like he’s completely miserable. Probably.

 

“We miss you, too. I miss you a lot. You know, you’re always welcome here.” Hero’s voice sounds so calm, but still, Balthazar is mad at himself for failing to make this conversation anything other than depressing.

 

He tells himself to get his shit together, clears his throat and tries to sound as cheerful as possible when he says: “Of course I know that. And you can always come here, yeah? I bet you’d love our garden, it’s so beautiful. And when you come, bring Ursula. Maybe you can figure out what’s going on between the two of you here.”

 

He knows he has successfully changed the topic again when he hears Hero laugh nervously. “I don’t know, Balthazar,” she admits, “I’m still so confused. Last week we had a movie night and ended up cuddling through the whole second half of Wall-E and all of Little Women, and she fell asleep on my shoulder at one point. She’s my oldest and best friend, how am I supposed to tell her that I’m suddenly in love with her? And I don’t want to scare her away, I don’t want her to think that I’m creepy, I know she doesn’t like it when people fall for her, with her being ace and demiromantic and everything, and I don’t want to hurt her feelings!”

 

Balthazar is glad that he doesn’t have to think about his own problems for a change, and honestly, talking about Hero’s crush on Ursula is just so much easier. He can’t exactly tell Hero that he knows for a fact that Ursula has the biggest crush on Hero as well, because he has promised Ursula to never tell Hero, just like he had to promise Hero to never tell Ursula about any of this, but he’s pretty sure that the girls will figure this out soon enough.

 

“Hero, she adores you! Of course she doesn’t like random people falling in love with her, but I’m pretty sure that it’s something else entirely when it’s about you. She obviously trusts you, so I think you can trust her with that as well.” He smiles fondly and wishes he could say more, wishes he could just shove them towards each other and say: ‘ _Hey, you’re both in love with each other, now go talk about it and get happy.’_ But alas, a promise is a promise, so they have to figure it out on their own. Balthazar completely trusts them to do so though – Hero is brave and Ursula is smart, they’ll get there soon, he’s sure of it.

 

Ursula is one of the topics Hero can go on and on and on about forever, so Balthazar gladly listens to Hero for at least ten more minutes and tries to be as supportive as possible in his advice without giving too much away.

 

But when Hero finally ends that topic with a promise to keep Balthazar posted, her tone gets more serious again. “Balthazar,” she begins calmly, “I really wish you would talk to me about what’s going on between you and Peter.”

 

Balthazar groans. “Can’t we just continue to talk about Ursula’s perfect hair?” he pleads, but really he knows that she’s right. If there’s anyone he can talk to about this, it’s probably her. When Hero stays silent and waits for him to say something, Balthazar finally sighs and gives in.

 

“There’s nothing to talk about, really. Peter doesn’t want to have a relationship, he made that clear. It’s fine, I guess, it’s his decision. Anyway, I’m moving on. I’m done with pining after him, it’s been long enough. It was stupid of me to think that him being out as bisexual would change anything. He was bi before he was out and he didn’t want to be with me then, so there’s no reason why it should be any different now. We’re probably better off as friends.”

 

It sounds almost convincing, even to himself, but still Hero doesn’t seem satisfied. “I just don’t want you to get hurt so much, you don’t deserve that. Please just… take care of yourself, okay?” She sounds so concerned that Balthazar wants to hug her through the phone.

 

“Thanks, I’ll try,” he mumbles.

 

They’re quiet for a while then, and Balthazar is afraid that she might want to hang up soon, but he doesn’t want to let her go just yet, so he desperately tries to think of something else to talk about. “Earlier you said you wanted some advice,” he finally says, glad to break the silence with it.

 

“Oh yeah!” she exclaims and suddenly sounds excited, “Meg and I want to write a song! Bea joked that she wanted Meg to write a song about her, and I’ve been practicing the ukulele a lot lately, so I said I could help her, but we don’t really know where to start.”

 

Balthazar sighs in relief. If there’s anything he can go on and on about forever, it’s music. So he’s incredibly thankful for the opportunity to talk about that, and it also makes him smile to hear that Hero seems to like the ukulele he left her.

 

“So, when I write a song, I mostly start with the lyrics, but starting with the music works just as well, you’ll have to find out yourself what suits you better…” Balthazar begins and half an hour later the phone call has turned into an amusing ukulele session via speakerphone and Balthazar is out of breath from laughing so much about the ridiculous lyrics Hero comes up with spontaneously.

 

“You’re way better at songwriting than I am,” he decides finally, grinning widely and wishing Hero could see how proud he is of her. “Rubbish,” Hero protests, “I could never be as great as The Mighty Balthazar. But when you’re a famous singer songwriter person in the near future, I’d love to be your supporting act, so your talent can even shine brighter next to my unworthy attempts.”

 

When they laugh together then, it almost feels like their ukulele sessions back home, and Balthazar feels happy and bright like he hasn’t felt in a long while. “Okay, that’s how we’ll do it,” he giggles, and only for a few moments he allows himself to dream of a life like that.

 

These happy thoughts get interrupted when he notices a red blinking light on his phone. “Ah, shit,” he curses, “my battery is running low, I think I need to hang up now, sorry.”

 

“No problem,” Hero replies. “But that was fun. Let’s do that again soon, okay?”

 

Balthazar agrees. “Yeah, let’s. Or even better, you can come down here, so we don’t have to do it over the phone.”

 

He can practically hear Hero’s smile. “Yes, maybe I can come. Or you can come here, it’s my birthday soon.”

 

Balthazar bites his lip. “Yeah, I would love to come home for your birthday, but I have two concerts that weekend, sorry.”

 

“No need to apologize,” Hero hurries to say. “It’s great for you, with the concerts! I’m so happy for you.”

 

Balthazar’s phone screen tells him that his 2% battery have just gone to only 1%, so he probably doesn’t even have a full minute left now. “Okay, well, I really have to go now, but we’ll talk again soon, okay? And thanks.”

 

She doesn’t ask what he’s thanking her for, but simply replies: “Take care, yeah?”

 

“You too,” Balthazar smiles.

 

“Goodbye, Balthazar.”

 

“Yeah, bye!”

 

The phone dies only seconds after they hang up, even before Balthazar can put it on the charger.

 

He smiles for the rest of the evening though, hums the melodies Hero has come up with earlier, thinks about how adorable it must have looked when Ursula fell asleep on Hero’s shoulder and wonders if he should make a bet with himself on how long it will take until Hero and Ursula will finally figure their stuff out and get together.

 

If only for tonight, Auckland doesn’t seem so far away and Balthazar doesn’t feel so lonely.


End file.
